Love is a Pretty Tragedy

[Chapter 2]

The sounds of summer rolled through Henry's old pick-up truck. "Turn it up, turn it up!" I egged on, as Henry slowly turned the rusty dial on the radio.

"You know how much I hate this song," Henry shook his head as he drove down the dirt road.
I giggled as the warm sun shined on my hair making it look almost red. "I don't think so. See, I love this song. You love me. Therefore, you love this song too."

He smiled as he continued to watch the empty road. "Alright, future lawyer," he teased, as he knew the last thing I would ever want to do is be a lawyer, as that was my dad's primary profession, and I watched at his dedication to his job tear our family apart.

I was going to slightly punch his arm, but he caught my hand and held it. I looked just past him and noticed a familiar brick three-story house, with a perfectly sculpted lawn, a large, overly-expensive fountain and navy shutters. I couldn't help to let out a sigh. "I don't want to go in." I looked back into his sadden, jade eyes, he didn't want me to go either.

"You know I have to work tomorrow." He said dutifully.

"Well then, expect me there around three." I said knowing that is what I would be waiting for until the time came. He kissed me, so sweetly with a smile on his lips that left one on mine, that never seemed to leave.

I slowly hopped down from Henry's pick-up truck and blew Henry a kiss just before I opened the door. The second I stepped in my house it was the same as always. Mom was always out and about as she was a real estate agent. Even in this small town, it seemed like she was always running to an open house or to show a house. However, today it sounded as though her friends were all over for coffee, cackling and howling over something. Usually I didn't mind, however, today I had to cut short my time with Henry, so my mom should have done the same. Dad was always in the same place, his home office, on the phone or in an “important” meeting.

There was no bother even announcing I was home, so I went straight up to my haven. I practically ran up the grand staircase and slid down the hall to my room before I flew myself onto my nice, luxurious bed. I closed my tired eyes, and let all my muscles relax. Oh, how I wished Henry was allowed in the house and that my parents weren't so strict. The truth was I could easily sneak him in here without them knowing, however, the maid would most definitely tell. She has it out for me.
I stared up at the ceiling at the little glow-in-the-dark solar system that I begged my parents to put up when I was eight. I pulled the book from my nightstand and started to read, but my eyes kept feeling heavier. I guess finishing high school took more a toll on me than I expected. I decided to go ahead and call it a night.

All the sudden my ears pricked up, in came a sound I hadn't heard in a quite while, my older brother Wesley's car. Everyone in this small town knew my brother's car; you could hear it literally a mile away. It had a horrible engine and he refused to give it up. My superstitious brother believed it was his good luck charm, which isn't completely wrong. The old wagon hasn't broken down or been hit since he got it. I went over to my window and glanced down to see exactly what I was expecting. Someone was home for the summer, and it made everything right again.

I checked my clock and saw it was already 10 o'clock the next day. Wow, I must have been really tired. I slept so long! I bolted down the stairs and into my brother's big arms and almost tackling him down. "Nice to see you, too. Sorry, I wasn't here yesterday. I had to tie up a few loose ends." He said setting down his bags. "You know, it still looks exactly the same."

I turned around and glanced at our house with him. We had actually gotten a new rug in the foyer, there was a slightly different paint color, and there was a new over-sized family portrait of us that glared at you when you walked in. However, it wasn't the physical aspects that Wesley was talking about. I knew what my brother was saying; our parents still were as wrapped up in their own lives as they always were. "Not a bit, this will maybe convince you to come visit more," I said only half-joking.

Wesley laughed slightly, but I knew that he really did feel guilty about not visiting anymore. "Well, starting this fall, I would much rather visit Chicago and avoid this place all together for as long as I can." The main bond Wesley and I shared was that we both hated this small town. However, he eventually will have to take over the role my dad holds in our community while constantly looking for a loophole. "Should I even bother?" Wes gestured to living room as gossip from my mother's friends echoed down the halls. Today was her book club friends that came over to sip hot tea, but barely remember the titles of their so-called "book of the month."

"Unpack first, by then maybe dad will be done." That was probably not the truth, but it felt nice to say it. Even though I just woke up, I didn't even need to look to see where my dad was. "Do you need any help?" I offered even though all he had was a suitcase and a book-bag.

"Nah, it's okay. Relax down here. I'll be back in a second." He said as he gave me a final hug before lugging his suitcase up the staircase.

I stared at him as he slowly made it up the stairs. Wesley is two years older than me and always was the protective older brother, especially with Henry. Truthfully only with Henry, my two previous boyfriends, he didn't care much about. I always thought he was just too involved with his own stuff to care. In high school, he could easily be labeled as 'Mr. Popular'. He was the only one I really considered to be close to in my family. So, when I started to date Henry, it broke our bond slightly. Putting it nicely would be to say he didn't like the guy.

I heard a lot of rumbling upstairs, so I decided to take a seat on the sofa in the den. I flipped on the TV, and started to mindlessly watch some show with overly tan people that always seemed to fight. I barely saw that Wesley was already standing in front of me, "Earth to Ella."

I quickly snapped out of it, and looked to my brother as he called my familiar nickname that only he was allowed to call me. "Took you long enough," I teased.

"Sorry, I just couldn't wait to see our loving parents." The sarcasm drowned the sentence. Together we slowly made our way to the sun-room. My mother's usual crowd was there, all tan and ridiculously skinny. I cleared my voice, but it didn't catch a single attention. "Mom," I tried in my sweetest voice to acknowledge her.

"Yes, sweetie," The fake tone of her voice was disgustingly obvious as she lightly touched my arm. To all her friends, she is the perfect mother. Of course, she did not even see Wesley towering a couple feet behind me.

After three months of very little contact, my mother did not even care to notice her own son. It seemed that once he decided that an Ivy school wasn't for him, he didn’t have any qualities for her to brag to her friends about. I'm sure I will soon be forgotten as well. Just the monthly check from dad will be the only contact and invitations to the quarterly dinners with our community. I wanted to walk away, why should I bother if she isn't even making an effort, I thought. However, my feet stayed planted firmly on the ground. "Well," I tried to keep my tone calm, "Wesley just got home for the summer."

Wesley peered out from behind me and gave a slight smile to my mother and then to all her friends. "Oh Sherry, he has grown up to be such a handsome boy. You must be so proud." One of my mother's followers cooed.

My mother must have taken this as a cue that she was supposed to react in this situation as she quickly rose and pushed me out of the way. “My dear Wesley! I've missed you so much." She quickly gave him a kiss on each cheek before fixing her outfit and taking another seat. "We will catch up later, and you will have to tell me about your lovely girlfriend." Wesley did not even have a girlfriend, but of course, we could never correct her. Not that she would notice, as she was already returning to completely ignoring us. Her friends had moved on to a new topic.

We slowly walked out of the sun room. "Oh dear Wesley," I started my famous impression of my mother, "I know I see my wretched friends daily, but honestly three months isn't that long. Anyway, in my mind, I can create whatever I want, even a girlfriend that you don't know about."

Wesley chuckled, but you could still hear the disappointment. "Well that least you only have to deal with one more parent." I said switching back to my regular voice. "Honestly, you probably won't see from him until tomorrow anyway. He is working on some big case or something." Suddenly, I heard a very familiar ringtone. It was 2:30, time to leave to see Henry.

"What was that?" Wesley asked looking around.

"That was my alarm." I said taking my phone out of my pocket. "It's time for me to visit Henry at work. He gets his break at 3."

Wesley just rolled his eyes. "I can't believe..."

"Stop!" I cut him off. "Leave it. I love him." Wesley practically winced. "I don't think I will stop for a very long time, so you just need to drop it."

Wesley instantly looked exhausted, tired of going over the same argument so many times. "Do you not remember what he did? Because it is so clear in memory."

This is basically the only thing that I didn't miss about Wes. "He's changed, and I'm going to see him right now. We will do something special for dinner when I get back, okay?" I gave him a peck on the cheek, as I quickly put on my flip flops and grabbed my car keys.

"Ella." Wesley sighed. I turned my head as I opened the door. "I've missed you." My heart sank as he said that, so much that I almost second guessed if I should even go see Henry.

"You're here now that's all that matters." I said as I looked one final time at my goofy brother.
Ding Dong.

The tiny bell went off as I entered Mary Jo's ice cream shop. The scent of the homemade strawberry ice cream filled my senses.

"Mmm," I hummed silently. I looked around the little shop to find its usual inhabitants. There were always the teenagers who hung out in the front, while the kids played on the nearby playground. Their ice cream dripping down their hands as they tried to multi-task by climbing the jungle gym and lick their melting ice cream. I giggled slightly to myself.

I glanced up at the counter, but only saw Sam working. "Hey Estelle, what are you interested in today? It's all on me." Sam said with a big smile. He always was a sweet guy, I thought.
"Actually, I'm going to have to pass, but thanks for the offer." I said with a smile, as Sam looked down shyly. "Is Henry in the back?"

"Oh, yeah he said for you to head on back-" Before Sam could even finished, I opened up the passage to behind the counter, and then straight to the back door. When, I opened up the door I saw that Henry was sitting on one of the crates, massaging his temples.

"Hard day at the office?" I teased as I eased over to Henry.

He didn't even glance up. "How did you know?" He massaged a couple more times as I got closer to him, until he looked up at me. His jade eyes met mine, and they instantly lit up. I took a seat on his lap and gave him a peck on the lips. "You know, you can make any day amazing?"

"It's one of my many talents, I must admit." I flicked my hair back as I talked. Henry chuckled slightly and then just stopped and stared at my face. "It's been less than 24 hours, and I've missed you so much." Henry must have agreed since I felt his lips softly touch mine.

He broke away just so he could get deeper into the kiss. I felt his fingers trace up and down my back, as I ran my fingers tugged on his mop of hair. We were both fully concentrated on the kiss, each second being better than the last, when Sam bust through the door.

"Ah, sorry," He quickly covered his eyes with his hand. I grudgingly got off of Henry's lap and readjusted my clothes. "I-I didn't mean to interrupt, but our boss is here Henry. I didn't want you guys to get in trouble." Sam quickly rushed out.

"Short break today?" I said as I put on my best puppy dog face. I wrapped my arms around Henry's neck.

Henry's eyes were kind and sorrowful at the same time. "No work tomorrow."

My eyes went wide, “Finally!"

"I know." Henry gave me a kiss on the forehead. "But gosh, where should we go on such a special occasion?"

I giggle, "Oh, I have no idea. Too bad we don't have a private place all to ourselves that has a nice lake and swing."

"Yeah, it really is too bad." Henry gave me a soft kiss. We heard his boss yelling at Sam from outside because the windows had fingerprints on them. "How are you going to get out?"

"Do you want me to hide?" I asked; however, I looked around the room and saw nothing.

Henry obviously noticed the same. "No, no. Dang it! My boss never comes in, but he would be so upset. I really don't want to ask this, but can you hide in the freezer?" Henry raised an eyebrow in hopes that I would agree.

"The back room better be clean as well otherwise you boys will be staying here until midnight cleaning," we heard the shop's boss shout from right in front of the door. I knew I had to do it, so I sprinted into the freezer. Once inside, I could see it was ice cream galore. When I first stepped in, it wasn't too cold. However, after about 5 seconds, it became freezing. I knew I needed something to keep my mind of the temperature, so I decide to listen outside.

"Everything is fine," I could hear Henry speaking slowly. "There is nothing to check on. Go back home, you left your oven on. Hurry!" All the sudden, I hear a door open and slam shut. Then, Henry had the door open in a matter of seconds.

"That was quick," I said in slight disbelief.

"Well, I couldn't leave you in there for too long. I like my girlfriends to be pretty hot," Henry joked.

"Ha ha. You are so bad at jokes." I teased him. "But seriously, why did he leave so quickly?"

"Oh, umm...” Henry scratched his forehead. "I think he said that he left his oven on or something.

Either way, I think my break is over. However, I will see you tomorrow around two at our spot."

"Couldn't think of a better place!" I stood on my tip toes and gave him another kiss, as I pulled away I could still smell all the ice cream flavors that were always on his clothes. I blew him a kiss good-bye, as I left out the door.